**I don't own them; I just like to play with them. **

*Author's Notes- I wanted to have this chapter out by Monday at the latest. I tried to, I had most of it written and everything. But then I opened up my FaceBook again and let me tell you, that evil little site is addictive!! Once I open it, it sucks me in. Anyway, I finally finished the chapter today, at work no less, and put it forth for (what I hope will be) your enjoyment. As always, I have to thank my beautiful bestie, Muse. You keep me going when I don't want to, you help to make me better every day, and I'd be lost forever without you my love. And last, but certainly not the least, I also have to thank all my lovely followers! You guys rock hard and I love you!

Chapter Ten

---EPOV---

Coffee? Do I want coffee? Not just coffee, but coffee with Bella. Bella, who is my sister's friend. Is that even allowed? And why am I even considering it? The one-sided conversation in my head took only a few seconds, but I was sure Bella noticed my hesitation. I was about to turn her down when I remembered a different conversation, one I'd had with Alice.

"You should go out Edward. Meet some people, make new friends. You can't just stay holed up in the house forever," she'd told me. She was right. In the last three weeks, I'd barely been out the front door. I had a hard time finding any reason to go out though.

It'd been three weeks already. Or only three weeks, depending on how you looked at it.

Am I ready to be around other people yet? People that I'm not related to. Only one way to know for sure, Cullen.

"Okay. Yeah," I answered, still a bit unsure of myself. "Sounds good." I followed Bella across the yard and to her door.

She smiled back at me over her shoulder. The sun caught in her brown eyes and softened the color somewhat. A person could get lost in the depth of those eyes. I could…

"Come on in," she said softly opening the door. She led me into the living room, "Make yourself at home."

"Thanks," I replied, gaining a little confidence. This isn't so bad. Just two people having coffee and getting to know each other.

Bella walked through the room, straightening little things, picking up a few toys. She walked over to Jay where he sat on the floor in front of me, and handed him a couple of toys. How thoughtful.

She laughed a little at Jay, playing with the chain links she'd handed him. He was swinging the short chain around and laughing.

"I think all kids like those things," she said. "Vanessa still plays with them a lot."

"He had some before, I think," I answered. "Most of his toys are in storage still. I didn't want to overload Alice's house with all of our things." Even though I know she wouldn't mind, I added in my head.

"Well um," she started. It seemed I wasn't the only nervous one. "I'll just go start the coffee. Be right back."

I took the few minutes she was gone to try to calm my nerves a little. Shit, it's not like it's a date. It's just coffee with a friend. I told myself. Just a friend. A beautiful friend, with gorgeous, deep eyes. I stopped myself there. I may be mourning a great loss, but I am a man after all. A man would have to be blind not to notice how attractive Bella was. Or the way her hips swayed, ever so slightly, when she walked. Or the way her lips puckered into a small pout when she was thinking about something...

Obviously, the trying to clear my head thing wasn't going to work, so I diverted my attention to Jay instead. He was busy making his escape, crawling toward the kitchen door. Bella came back from the kitchen before he made it too far.

"Where you going, little guy?" she said, picking him up. She brought him back over to me. "I can fix that," she said and winked at him. She set him down then went to a closet and pulled out two baby gates. Bella put one up in the hallway and one in the kitchen. "There," she said. "Now you can go play without getting too far away. It's no fun sitting by dad all the time is it?" She took him over to sit by a small basket of toys across the room, and sat down to play with him.

I had to laugh; it was so different being around someone who's so used to kids. Though they're adjusting quickly, my family is pretty rusty in the baby department. While they lavish him with attention, they just didn't know what to expect, not like another parent would. Like Bella obviously does.

She looked up, noticed me watching, and blushed slightly. "What?" she asked self consciously.

"Nothing," I laughed, starting to feel truly comfortable around her. "I was just thinking to myself actually."

"Oh. And what were you thinking?" she asked, smiling now.

"Just that this is nice, being here I mean," I was tripping over my words a little. "What I mean is that its nice being near someone so used to having children around."

"Oh," she sighed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I was really glad when Jessica and Mike bought the house next door. I didn't know anyone else in the neighborhood, so it was nice to have a familiar face around."

"Doesn't your family live here?" I asked her. It was becoming more and more easy to talk to her.

"They do. Vanessa's with them now actually. They like to keep her overnight sometimes," she explained. "It gives me a night to myself, ya know?"

"Yet you're spending it having coffee with a stranger," I teased.

Bella laughed then. "You're not really a stranger though. I mean I always knew about you. Alice talks about you a lot," she said. "It's kinda like having a friend I hadn't met yet."

"That's true," I answered. "I hadn't thought of it that way." The strong smell of the coffee wafted into the room just then. "I think the coffee's done," I said getting up off the couch. I walked to where she sat with Jay and put my hand out to help her up. "Shall we?"

Bella shook her head at me, taking my hand. "And they say chivalry is dead." She said, amused by the gesture.

She pulled herself up before dropping my hand, and in those thirty seconds of contact I could almost feel a current of some sort - a surge of energy between us. It was strangely bizarre, but also pleasurable at the same time.

We each got a cup of coffee and then returned to the living room. This time, Bella sat at the other end of the couch. We chatted about little things, made small talk. Favorite restaurants, movies we liked, books we'd read. Bella was strangely drawn to vampire stories; she had a thing for Anne Rice. Truth be told, I've read a few of Anne's books, and they are pretty good. Then we moved on to things like our first cars and first dates, first jobs, and funny school stories. All the while, Jay entertained himself with different toys. He only fussed a time or two but quickly went back to playing. Before I knew it, we were on our second cups of coffee. Then third…….and fourth. Bella looked up to clock on the wall, a surprised look on her face.

"Damn," she said. "It's almost eight already."

I hadn't even noticed the time fly by. It didn't seem to have been that long already. "Wow," was all I could manage to say. I hadn't spoken to anyone for this long in weeks, not even Alice. It was nice, almost normal even, and I wasn't sure I was ready for it to be over.

"Hey?" she asked. "You hungry? We could order some food."

"Come to think of it," I said, narrowing my eyes. "Someone did throw my lunch all over the floor today."

Bella tossed a throw pillow at my head. "It was an accident!" she shouted.

"I know," I smiled then asked, "What would you like? It's my treat."

"You don't have-" she started to object.

"I know I don't have to, but I'd like to," I said simply.

"But-" she objected again.

"Really, please. I want to," I replied. "You've really done me a favor tonight, Bella. I needed some sense of normalcy, and I enjoy talking to you. Now," I said, handing her my credit card, "Order some pizza or Chinese, or anything you want."

Bella just looked at me, disbelieving for a minute. Then she asked "What does Jay eat?"

"He doesn't have many teeth yet, so something soft, pasta maybe. Usually he eats baby food, but there's none in his bag," I replied.

"Well here," she said tossing me back the credit card and a phone book. "Just order a pizza, I like anything. My address is written in the front cover of that book if you need it. I've got a box of baby cereal and some applesauce in the kitchen, we can feed Jay that. If that's okay, I mean." She sort of just blurted it all out.

I laughed, "That's fine."

"More coffee?" she asked. "Or would you rather have a soda or some water."

"Um, a soda I guess," I answered. I dialed the number, placed the order, and then went the change Jay.

Bella followed me to the kitchen when I went to throw away the diaper. "Here's the cereal," she said, and handed me the box and a small bowl. I mixed the cereal with some applesauce and a little of Jay's formula and then looked around the room. Bingo! I thought, spotting what I was hoping for. There was a high chair in the corner.

"Can I use the high chair?" I asked.

"Go right ahead," Bella said. "I'll go get him."

Bella was back in a minute and put Jay in the high chair. She sat at the table with me as I fed him and we chatted the whole time. She would ask a few questions, and then I'd take my turn. Just as Jay was about done, the doorbell rang.

"Here, let me," she said, taking the spoon from my hand.

I looked at her questioningly.

"They'll want a signature for the credit card."

I nodded and went to get the door.

Bella was washing Jay's face and hands when I got back to the kitchen. He was rubbing his eyes, looking a little tired. Usually he was in bed by now. He fussed a little as she took him from the chair and handed him to me.

"Aw, you're a tired little man, " I said quietly to him. "We'll go soon, and get you home in bed.

"I have a playpen in the back room. You can lay him down if you want while we eat," Bella offered.

Jay's eyelids were already fluttering. I nodded to her. "He's about out as it is."

Bella grabbed the diaper bag and showed me the way to where the playpen was. "Jessica watches a baby a few nights a week and sometimes they come over to watch a movie while Mike puts their girls to bed. Sometimes she stays kinda late so she puts him to bed over here."

"How very convenient," I grinned at her.

Jay was fast asleep before we even walked out of the room. Bella turned on the monitor on the dresser as we walked past.

"Well, it serves the purpose when it needs to," she laughed. "Come on, let's go eat."

When we got to the kitchen, Bella surprised me by picking up the box and walking back toward her living room.

She must have noticed the puzzled look on my face because she said, "It's more comfy in the other room."

"Okay," I laughed. "I'll grab some drinks."

"Want to watch a movie while we eat?" she asked.

I thought about it for a minute before I answered her. Is it wrong that I want to say yes? I thought. Maybe not wrong, but a little soon. But it's just a movie. It's not like we'd be cuddling on the couch or anything. Just two friends, watching a movie, enjoying each other's company…

"Okay," I replied. "What do you have?"

"You said you liked comedies, right," she asked.

I nodded.

"Well then, Adam Sandler or Pauly Shore?"

I smiled at her. Some of my favorite movies were either Adam Sandler or Pauly Shore movies. Sure, they may be pretty stupid, but they're also pretty funny. Not exactly classics, but still, they're amusing.

After a bit of thought, I answered, "Sandler."

"Big Daddy?" she asked. It was one of my favorites.

"Put it in," I answered with a grin.

We watched the movie and ate pizza, chatting here and there, while relaxing at either end of her large, sectional couch. About halfway through the movie, I put up the footstool at my end and reclined back, getting more comfortable. Now and then, my eyelids fluttered a little and without even realizing I was that tired, I fell asleep………